Travel to Italy (Part 2)

You received so much helpful advice on your last post, but have you picked up a guide book? That is certainly how I got started and I still consult them for travel after dozens of trips.
Have you searched airfares to see what you can expect? You can always choose inexpensive meals and hotels, but the airfare is what it is. Knowing what you would have left after purchasing flights is pretty important.
I use Google for flights, then purchase from the specific airline. I use Booking.com for accommodations. Many recommend AutoEurope for car rental. Train websites are Trenitalia and Italotren. That is basically all you need!

Hello,
Appreciate your reply.
First, airfares this far ahead can't be predicted, and flights can't be reserved yet.
Also, while your advice to check guide books is smart,
the information in them is certainly subject to change.
It still seems tough, even with all that.
I have no experience in tour planning.
Certainly a more experienced traveler would have an easier time.

Not that much really changes--of course for specific places you should check to see if opening times or entry fees have changed, but a guide book gives you all the basics. It seems overwhelming, but it is really not rocket science--you just need to break it up into manageable pieces. Even if looking months ahead, you can see what typical airfare costs are. There is no alternative to doing it yourself unless you win the lottery, so just get started! I assure you that you are capable--if you could navigate yourself to this forum, you can plan a trip.

Also, how does one avoid the singles' supplement that potentially doubles accommodation costs?

You have already received some good advice in response to your original post regarding number of days and costs, but I will throw in my two cents worth with respect to logistics. Without addressing the number of days in each stop, if I had to plan your itinerary, it would look something like this:
1. Fly from Pittsburgh to either Bologna or Florence. British Airways shows a one-stop to each, connecting in London. Delta and partners offer numerous two-stop possibilities. The train ride between Bologna and Florence is less than an hour, so you can easily visit one from the other as a day trip.
2. Train from Bologna (or Florence) to Rome. You should spend at least a few days in Rome, but more is better. Get a train early in the morning, and make sure your hotel will allow you to leave your luggage on arrival, so you have most of the day to sightsee in Rome. You’ll probably want to return to the hotel in mid afternoon for a rest before dinner, and can check in then.
3. Train from Rome to Sulmona. Rent a car in Sulmona to visit Castel di Sangro, and for travel to the airport afterwards.
4. Drive to Pescara Abruzzo Airport (about one hour), drop off the car at the airport and catch your Ryan Air flight to Catania. Ryan is not my favourite airline, but they fly to and from everywhere. Book well in advance and prepay for your luggage and seat. Pick up a rental car at Catania Airport, and drive to Villarosa.
5. Drive back to Catania Airport for your return flight to Pittsburgh.

While possible, two weeks of travel would be too short to fully enjoy this itinerary. If this is really a once in a lifetime trip for you, try to add at least another week out of your life. As for resources, I use search tools like Expedia and Google flights to find options, but always book directly with the airlines. AutoEurope is a good site for booking car rentals, but if they don’t show rentals in smaller places like Sulmona, go directly to the rental company sites, like Avis or Europecar. Booking.com and Hotels.com are popular for booking accommodations, but there are lots of others.
You have lots of time to work on planning your trip, so take it one step at a time and it won’t seem so arduous.

I'll just say a few things...

If you're 70 and have never traveled abroad, and are traveling solo, you might want to think about a RS tour. BUT, I get that all you want to see is not going to be on that tour.

So, let's for now make the assumption that you can and will do it on your own, and we're targeting September 2026. Let's look at your destinations. Rome, Bologna and Florence (yes, you want to go there) are relatively easy. Sulmona in Abruzzo is doable but it's right in the middle of Italy, not sure how close to the major train routes so logistic-wise will take a little doing. Villarosa in Sicily would be extremely cool (I was just in Sicily in April) but it's a major departure from the mainland. If I had to drop one destination for a 2 week trip, that would be the one. I really don't think you can do justice to all 5 places in 14 days.

A Lot of people discard the Rome 2 Rio website, but I think it's where you should go first to initially get the lay of the land from a logistics standpoint. You will find out that getting to and from Sicily will take a lot of time and expense. Once you get down there, it can be very inexpensive, especially in the rural village areas.

But don't book anything with Rome to Rio. I think 9 months out you start looking at the air, best time to book is between 5-7 months out. If you don't do Sicily you can easily do a roundtrip Pittsburgh/Rome. Almost at the same time, start looking at hotels, especially in Rome & Florence. AirBnBs are too expensive for solo, and you could look at hostels but you might get a pig in a poke there! Study up on neighborhoods in Rome & Florence in the central districts, because then you can walk everywhere. FreeNow is the Uber in Italy and it works well, or just old school hail a taxi.

I would fly into Rome, and immediately take the train to Florence and start your trip there. Then on to Bologna, then you'll have to check out the Trenitalia website to find out how to get to Abruzzo and Sulmona. You may have to hire a guide from whatever station you arrive at, but maybe not--just keep that possibility open. Genealogical research can be dicey, and trying to do it on your own in a foreign country can be tough. I've tried and have been disappointed. But do your research.

Finally, leave at least 5 days for Roma. It's my favorite city on the planet. Find yourself a neighborhood that you like (I'm partial to Campo de' Fiori, everything walkable) and then fly home. Oh, by the way, $5-6K without air is definitely doable. Just have to watch your shekels a little bit!

Others may dissent from what I'm saying about Sicily, but it's almost like you have to dedicate at least a week there, especially in the middle of the island.

But really, enjoy your planning. It's a lot of fun!

When contacting travel agents, I was given either incomplete proposals or really expensive ones.

What made them 'really expensive'? Did they go where you wanted for as long as you wanted at each destination?

If you outline in detail and cost, what they proposed, folks here may be able to find a way to 'travel smarter'.

Hello, Joe
Definitely appreciate your comments.
Here's my take.
One tour not only not included Abruzzo and Sicily, saying their tour operator didn’t go to those places,
but, also failed to include accommodations for at least three days. Also, was offered premium rooms rather than simpler ones.
The other seemed better, but also didn't offer Abruzzo or Sicily.

Both proposals, especially the second, were priced based on double occupancy, which, basically doubles the cost of the trip. One person paying for two.
Will try to get a few extra days, but it depends on my employer.
This is possibly a lifetime trip, don't want to avoid either Sicily or Abruzzo.
Also, no one has been able to suggest ways to avoid the singles supplement.
I will continue to value everyone 's comments.

Thanks again.
Joe

HI Joe,
I'm confused about the single supplement. If you're travelling independently and booking your own hotels/B&Bs, you can easily find places that charge by the room for single travellers. You're searching for twin or single rooms. Maybe that will help bring your budget down?
dartmouthgirl

Hi, Joe and dartmouth,
As for costs, the first trip was quoted at about $5500, not including three days' hotel, nor Abruzzo nor Sicily.
The second trip, including Abruzzo and Sicily,
came to $7500 if traveling with a companion,
or $15,000 for the same trip traveling solo.
It makes no sense, but it does exist.
Any comments will be appreciated! Thanks.
Joe.

So, in this day and age it is not clear to me what a travel agents do and how they make their livings from our trips. We’ve not used a travel agent in 40+ years. So much can be accomplished ourselves on line. We usually travel independently though we have done a two guided tours, as well as some “self-guided” e-bike tours.

As to guided tours, they run more than travelling on our own, at least in our limited experience with guided tours: Croatia guided bike tour 2018 and RS Sicily 2024. From our 2024 TR (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel):

LATE NOTE - Now that our credit card bills are all in

Rick Steves Tour (double occupancy), plus the two extra days in Sicily ran about $640 per day, including meals on our own plus the extra day at each end. The number of specialty guides and experiences is likely a factor.

Puglia, including the self-guided bike tour, 4 more days in Puglia on our own, and including the airfare from Catania to Bari ran about $431 per day.

The final 6 nights on our own, including the rental car from Lecce to Naples, the ferry to/from Ischia and the private tour guide in Pompeii ran about $506 per day, including a couple of hundred dollars in clothing that we acquired in the Naples area....

Compare different guided tour vendors, e.g., RS, Road Scholar, Overseas Adventure Travels (OAT) and more. See: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/comparing-tour-companies

Given where you want to travel, perhaps independent travel may work better for you in seeing all the places you want to visit. Or, maybe you combine a short 7-day or so guided tour plus independent travel at one end to add Abruzzo or Sicily, though the practicalities of adding Sicily to your otherwise central Italy destinations may challenge your budget.

Spend time with multiple guidebooks. Not just RS. DK Eyewitness, Lonely Planet, Moon, Michelin Green Guides are ones that I like. Regional guidebooks typically go deeper than country-wide guidebooks.

If you travel independently, your biggest costs - once in Italy - will be hotels and food, assuming you don’t drop a lot of money on 1/2-day or full-day guided tours. Expedia.com or hotels.com will help you find hotels and help you get senses of pricing. 2 star, 3 star, 4 star? If you find a hotel on one of those websites, see if you can save by booking directly with the hotel, rather than through Expedia or hotels.com.

Comfort/location/amenities vs costs? We travelled 2 star hotels 25 years ago. We do mostly 3 and some 4 star hotels now. Since you have a lot you want to see, you may choose more economical lodgings to meet your budget and extend your trip.

Put together a little calendar on a piece of paper. Plot out a 12 day trip on your own, with a sensible itinerary based on your research and a map. I suggest 12 days with the thought of a $500 per day budget, or $6,000 for c. 12 days in Italy, plus one travel day (and an overnight transatlantic flight) at the front and one more travel day at the back would be 14 or 15 days total. 4 nights, 3 full days in Rome? Travel day plus 3 full days in Abruzzo? Travel to Bologna for two nights (one full day). Then travel to Florence for two nights (one one full day)? Then fly home from Florence? Maybe you can add one more day and night to Bologna or Florence?

Fly “open jaw” - in to Rome and home from Florence?

As to insurance, that is a whole different story. Our 9th international trip in the past 26 years is coming up. First time we’ve bought insurance, and we limited this to emergency evacuation coverage with a limited health insurance benefit since we are over 70 and we will be cycling 13 of our 30 days in Europe. (What if we fall?) IMHO, FWIW, trip cancellation insurance costs too much and the cost:benefit ratio just did not add up.

So I think I figured out what was happening with those travel advisors (I am one). They were either looking for group tours for you, or proposing a company on the ground in Italy that would have been in charge of all of your logistics and plans (to get you from door to door, private tour guides, a "truly specialized" itinerary). Those two options are EXPENSIVE. If you had a normal advisor estimating out a trip for you, they could have at least gotten you CLOSE to that $7000 (I think that the only way you would be affected by something like a "single supplement" is just taking into account that if there is only one of you, the per person cost for lodging is OBVIOUSLY more). Some travel advisors do charge planning fees, for people who are not on a champagne budget, but are overwhelmed with the planning or don't know where to start (sometimes daily, sometimes per location, etc), but they also get commission from hotels and guides/activities that their travelers utilize. I WOULD though, if you want to research or at least visit some places where your ancestors were from, look into hiring a guide for that day if it truly is remote and you won't know where to start with the research, as Jay said.